The British government has again approved debt relief for Belize. In the next year, the government will not have to pay 1.5 million pounds or $5 million in debt. That money will instead be spent on poverty alleviation and economic restoration programmes, programmes that must be agreed upon by both governments. The debt relief is part of the Caribbean Debt Initiative Programme, in which Belize is eligible for forgiveness of 22 million pounds, over $70 million, in loans made from the British between 1981 and 1989.
With the CDI initiative, there's no blanket eligibility; it's a yearly review process and for a couple of years in its first term the Musa administration was deemed unfit to receive the relief. However, it has been granted for the past three years.
